Big Oil Wins Ballot Initiatives In Colorado, Washington

Big Oil has poured a lot of money to defeat energy-restricting ballot initiatives in various states in the midterm elections, and it succeeded in two key votes. Voters in Colorado were asked to vote on a ballot proposition to increase the setback distance for drilling oil and gas wells by five times to 2,500 feet, which would have put a lot of land off limits for new developments. Voters in Washington State voted on a proposal to instate a U.S. first state-wide carbon tax. Both initiatives failed, and both ‘no’ camps were supported by Big Oil. In Colorado, Proposition 112 requiring much greater setback distance failed with 56.75 percent of votes against, a relief for Colorado drillers such as Anadarko, Noble Energy, and Devon Energy who had sponsored the ‘no’ camp in the campaign. “We’re grateful that Coloradans stood with the energy sector to oppose this measure. I want […]